Articles and news about mental health issues

Here are a few articles about ongoing research

Suicide Attempt Method Affects Prognosis, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (July 7, 2010) — The method used for a suicide attempt is highly significant for the risk of subsequent successful suicide, reveals a long-term study from Karolinska Institutet. The results may be of help in acute risk assessment following a suicide attempt.

Suicide is one of the most common causes of death among those aged 15 to 44. Previous research has shown that those who have previously attempted to take their own lives are at a greatly increased risk of committing suicide. Other known risk factors are psychiatric disorders and drug abuse. The new study, which followed people who had attempted suicide, is one of the first to compare groups who used different methods for their attempted suicide.

The results, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), show that the risk of successful suicide is particularly high among those who attempted suicide by hanging, drowning, jumping from height or using firearms. For example, suicide is six times more likely after a hanging attempt, and four times more likely after a drowning attempt, than after a poisoning attempt, which is the most common method…[read more]

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2009) — In older age groups, repeated suicide attempts constitute an increased risk for completed suicide in depressed women, while severe attempts constitute an increased risk for depressed men. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry studied suicide attempts in 100 patients who committed suicide and in an age- and sex-matched control group, investigating the effects of age on suicidal behaviour, as a risk factor for accomplished suicide.

Louise Brådvik and Mats Berglund, from Lund University, Sweden, studied the hospital records of patients admitted between 1956 and 1969 and followed up until 2006. According to Brådvik, “Men and women showed different patterns of suicide attempts in the older age groups. The risk for an initial suicide attempt reduced with age in all females and in male controls, but not in male victims, repetition and severity then showing a special pattern”.

Speaking about the results, Brådvik said, “Suicide attempt is known to be one of the main predictors for suicide in depression. If attempts are repeated or serious, the risk for suicide is considered to be increased. However, to our knowledge, there has been no investigation into the predictive value of age at repeated and severe suicide attempt for accomplished suicide. In our study it appears that from middle age onwards, repeated attempts are a risk factor for suicide in women and so are severe attempts for men. In other words, though all suicide attempts should be taken seriously, an older woman who makes a repeated attempt is at higher risk for suicide and needs more observation and treatment than a young female repeater. Correspondingly, an older man who makes a severe attempt (or an initial attempt) is in need of more observation”…[read more]

ScienceDaily (Feb. 6, 2009) — A thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, concludes that people who have nightmares following a suicide attempt are five times more likely to attempt suicide again, compared with those who do not have nightmares.

The study included 165 patients aged 18-69 years, who were being treated at somatic and psychiatric departments following a suicide attempt in Sweden. Psychiatric interviews and self-assessments were carried out as part of the study during the week following the suicide attempt, and then two months later. Ninety-eight people attended the follow-up interview.

The study shows that those patients who complained of nightmares during the week following the suicide attempt were three times more likely to attempt to take their own life again, regardless of gender or psychiatric diagnosis, such as depression or post-traumatic stress syndrome.

“Those who were still suffering from nightmares after two months faced an even greater risk. These people were five times more likely to attempt suicide a second time,” says author of the thesis, Registered Nurse Nils Sjöström.

Other sleeping difficulties do not increase risk of repeat suicide attempts

It is normal for patients that have attempted suicide to suffer from sleeping difficulties. Some 89 percent of the patients examined reported some kind of sleep disturbance. The most common problems were difficulty initiating sleep, followed by difficulty maintaining sleep, nightmares and early morning awakening. Nils Sjöström has also examined the possibility of there being an increased risk of repeat suicide attempts if the patient has difficulty falling asleep, difficulty sleeping during the night, or wakes up early in the morning. However, the result did not indicate any increased risk…[read more]

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From the author

As a psychiatric nurse for the last 20 years, I have seen many changes in the way we, as a population, view and respond to those we deem "mentally ill".
I know that anyone, anywhere can be affected by mental illness, just like anyone, anywhere can become diabetic. I know that we need to treat these people as we, ourselves, would want to be treated.
Mental illness is real and it affects numerous homes and families around the world. We need to see the mentally ill as real people with a serious, chronic illness that needs ongoing treatment and care. We owe it to all of those families to provide it and to give them solace from the sometimes frightening events faced by the mental patient out in our communities.

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